Some of you are excited at the thought of a replacement for these things and some of you are probably wondering “What’s the problem with dairy?” In our case, due to some intestinal problems, our MD thought that my husband should avoid all inflammatory foods, i.e. foods that cause inflammation, which include dairy. For many people, myself included, dairy is difficult to digest leading to bloating, gas and pain. And on top of that, dairy is very fattening. In addition, some people are trying to reduce their animal fat intake because there are experts who say this is better for your heart and cancer prevention. (Of course there are MANY opinions on health and wellness in regards to diet…. just some food for thought as you make choices for you and your family).

I suppose one could purchase vegan cheese products from the grocery store, but frankly they are expensive and I don’t like their ingredient lists much better than the ingredient lists of other processed cheeses and foods. So Little Sis and I blend, borrow, steal and amend the ideas of others with our own to try and reclaim the wonderful taste and texture of added parmesan, mozzarella or ricotta.

I am very pleased with these 2 additions to the DF arsenal. My son has never liked parmesan on his pasta (clearly there was a switch in the hospital, but other than this we like him and didn’t complain to the authorities), but my husband whose GI troubles led us to do away with the dastardly dairy, and I both always LOVED a little pasta with our parmesan.

So I offer you my version of DF parmesan (which is high in iron because of the presence of sesame seeds) and a ricotta-ish substance that can be used plain or with tomato sauce. This one is an adaptation of Little Sis’ creamy orzo ‘nofredo’ sauce. This deliciousness has the advantage of using pureed cauliflower, no really – it’s fabulous – and the more veggies, the better!

Place all ingredients in blender
Blend until powdery – don’t go too long or the sunflower seeds will start to turn into sunflower butter!
Place on top of pasta….. or other things as well! I think the sunflower seeds give it a heartier flavor and the ratio of the other ingredients in mine is a little different from Ms. Liddon’s – but check that out as well! You might prefer it.

Place all in the food processor and process.
This comes out thicker than the nofredo sauce and is more like a ricotta or cottage cheese. If you want to make it thinner – add some water or non-dairy, unsweetened milk.

We mixed of this some plain with pasta but then I added a dollop to my pasta with a tomato sauce. …. LAAAAAA Sweet mystery of life at last I’ve found you! It really knocked my socks off. I think this begs to be put into some kind of layered lasagna type thing. It was very tasty.

I am a huge fan of dairy but can’t eat it…these recipes give me some hope! I finally got some nutritional yeast and used it in pesto, it was delicious and I couldn’t even tell Parmesan was missing. Looking forward to trying these out! :)